A recent post at EcoWatch.org asks a very simple question: “Should the U.S. export natural gas?”

Bruce Ferguson for the Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy points out that the U.S. has long been an importer of natural gas as LNG (liquefied natural gas). But the fracking mania sweeping the country the last few years is resulting in a tipping point for natural gas—we might become the biggest exporter of natural gas by 2017.

Ferguson cuts right to the chase. “When we’re talking about natural gas exports, we’re talking about shale gas. That is, we’re talking about fracking. So let’s reframe the question: Should the U.S. be fracked to supply foreign nations with gas?”

He points out that “It’s no exaggeration to say that, because of fracking, some rural communities have higher ozone levels than Los Angeles on a bad day.”

However, we don’t currently have the infrastructure of pipelines and shipping terminals that will be needed for export. The terminal facilities to ship LNG will cost at least an estimated $100 billion.

Besides the fracking pollution that Americans will have to bear from the extraction process, Ferguson raises the most interesting question about our desire to export fossil fuel. “If the U.S. does export shale gas, it will be supplying countries like France that have already banned fracking because it’s too dangerous.”

Hence, Ferguson concludes: “Is the U.S. on its way to becoming an energy extraction colony for other nations? Are we the new Third World?”

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